Slocum agrees with penalty on field goal

Oct. 15, 2012

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As it turned out, it was an inconsequential play during the Packers’ blowout victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

The Packers traded in a Mason Crosby field goal in the third quarter for an eventual touchdown, thanks to a Connor Barwin penalty.

Barwin was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for using one of his teammates to leverage himself into the air to block Crosby’s field goal. The Packers were awarded a first down on the penalty and drove for a touchdown. Instead of leading 24-10 midway through the third quarter, the Packers went ahead 28-10.

Packers special teams coach Shawn Slocum said he thought the penalty was a good call.

“Their linebacker jumped on top of a defensive lineman and that’s leveraging and you can’t do that,” said Slocum. “You can’t use a player on your team as a launching board, and that’s what happened.”

One interpretation of the replay, however, shows that Barwin may have simply leaped into the air without leveraging one of his teammates, and on his way down he partially landed on one of his teammates.

If that was the case, then it’s conceivable no penalty should have been called. But that’s not how Slocum saw things unfold.

“That comes down to the interpretation of the official on that,” said Slocum. “It’s all subject to how they see it. And if you use a player for advantage in terms of on the jump, it’s going to be, it should be called a penalty, and that’s what happened.”